Juan Valdez, the Tourist, 2011–2015
Self-portraiture has a long tradition of the artists inserting themselves into the world they observe, and that’s exactly what drew me to the tourist.
Juan Valdez, the Tourist, is a photography series shot on both film and digital across Los Angeles, capturing everything from iconic landmarks to hidden corners most locals overlook. It began with two parallel passions: flipping through found photo albums to examine outfits, poses, and candid moments frozen in others' vacations, and observing tourists as they navigate Hollywood, fascinated by how openly and intentionally they engage with their environment. These albums became a visual archive, documenting how people present themselves when they want to be remembered somewhere. The tourists brought it to life. I wanted to match that energy, to step in front of the camera and inhabit it myself.
I position myself as the subject, handing the camera to strangers on the street or the occasional assistant, adopting the poses, expressions, and quietly genuine connection with the place that visitors seem to naturally embody. Each image is composed to resemble the casual tourist snapshot; unscripted, straightforward, featuring a person simply standing somewhere meaningful to them. The tension between film’s warmth and digital’s sharpness subtly reflects the series’ own push and pull between the familiar and the new.
The twist, of course, is that I’m not visiting. These are my surroundings. By stepping into the tourist’s role, I traded the artist’s usual control for the same vulnerability any tourist accepts when they ask a stranger to take their picture. The result is a series of self-portraits that aren’t really about me but about the places themselves and what it takes to finally pay attention to them.
Locations:
El Monte
Mulholland Drive
West Hollywood
Sunset Blvd.
